Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Great White Shark Diver 2012 - Joanne Faulkner

Some people love sharks and some people are willing to travel quite a ways to see them. Newly minted Shark Diver Joanne Faulkner is one of those people, and yes, Joanne, we'll have you join us anytime!

All my life I have
wanted to dive with great whites. My Dad took me to see Jaws when I was about
10 years old – maybe he thought it would be fun to scare the kids?

Well, I
loved it, couldn’t get enough of sharks after that.

So to be fortunate
enough to actually get to go on a trip with Shark Diver was the opportunity of
a lifetime. And it was really really amazing.

I had not been able
to convince anyone I knew to come with me, so I went on my own. It didn’t
matter though, there were several others on the boat who also came on their
own. We also had a family of 4, plus a couple (who turned out to be avid
travelers and divers, with many entertaining stories to tell).

OK, early on the first
morning (after a rocking and rolling 20 hours on the open ocean to get there),
my new dive partner and I were standing on the back deck, no one else around
(they were all either still in bed, or having breakfast inside, or getting
ready to dive).I was trying on my
wetsuit for the first time, which was dry – and I was dry – so this was not an
easy task. As I was bent over wrestling with the leg of the suit, a great white
shark breached clear out of the water, and splashed back into the water. I was about 2
feet from the railing, and I saw it's belly!!!!!

We had no time to be
scared, it was about a second or two at most. With the colour drained from his
face, my dive partner looked at me, walked into the center of the deck, and
said quietly, "holy #$%&#! we're all gonna die." The poor
guy had come to Guadalupe Island to get over his fear of great white sharks… so,
not a good way to start! He was convinced we were about to be eaten. But then
he started to joke about it, saying that pretty much nothing else could top
this experience of seeing a great white jump out of the water right in front of
us. And it’s true. I will always remember that split second, putting me into
the realm of a very minimal group of people in the world who have ever witnessed
a great white shark breach.

We were grouped in
pods of 4 for our dive rotations, which went hourly – this meant we had on
average 5 hours a day in the water. Ample time to see white sharks! (and get
very pruney fingers soaking in water all that time) There was a half hour break (no divers in the
water) at noon for lunch. The cages went in the water at 7am, and basically
they let us go in until 5pm or 6pm or whenever we were all too exhausted to get
back in the cage. In our initial trip information from Patric, it said
that some people skip their rotations and others could get extra cage time – I
wondered why people would travel all that way and just stay on the deck! But
experiencing it was very tiring! And yes, I did end up skipping at least one
rotation, and then on the last day I didn’t do the last couple of hours that
were an open rotation. I could hardly pull myself out of the water towards the
end of each day; I was completely drained, but in a great ‘once in a lifetime’
way!

The crew worked their
butts off making sure each of us had the perfect trip. We were safe at all
times. We ate enormous amounts of food (which was fantastic). Some of us had
food allergies or sensitivities, and chef Mark made sure to cook individual meals
for those folks (including me, no wheat and no meat). Although I must admit I
had a small piece of the raspberry glazed Cornish game hen served one evening,
and it was delicious. Most of us went to
our lower-deck bunks around 8pm each night because we could hardly keep our
eyes open by then. And surprisingly, there was no drinking at all. Well, I
think a couple people had a few, but remember, we were on the ocean and the
boat never stopped rocking. Our stomachs were often feeling a little woozy at
times, but most of us were good at re-balancing ourselves by looking at the
horizon (this little tip worked well for me). However, I gave up trying to
shave my legs on day 2, because I kept bumping against the shower wall as the
boat tipped from side to side.

We saw 9 great whites
over the 3 dive days, 2 of which were ‘new’ to divemaster Martin – they had not
previously been identified. Being September, the female sharks are not
(usually) in Guadalupe, but we did see one – the rest were males. They are
nothing like in the movies and on tv – these sharks were calm, docile, just
slowly cruising by our cages, sometimes a little closer than anticipated, but I
never felt scared! One of them came so close to me I stopped breathing in my regulator and couldn’t even take a photo. I was mesmerized by every tiny
detail I could see of its skin, and eyeball (yes, it was that close!)

Having a
great white shark look you in the eye is what the word awesome was really meant
for. I was in a true state of awe, for sure! It’s difficult to describe the
feeling of getting to do the one thing that has always been on my bucket list.
Long before anyone called it a bucket list. As a kid, I thought it was just
always going to be a dream. Going on this trip was exhilarating and I have so
many adventurous stories and memories – and it’s kind of nice to have some
bragging rights once in a while too. JBut it
doesn’t have to be a ‘once in a lifetime’ trip … I’m already planning my next
trip to Isla Guadalupe.

Cheers,

Joanne Faulkner - Official Shark Diver

About Shark Diver.
As a global leader in commercial shark diving and conservation initiatives Shark Diver has spent the past decade engaged for sharks around the world. Our blog highlights all aspects of both of these dynamic and shifting worlds. You can reach us directly at sharkcrew@gmail.com.